Columbia lays aside her laurels to mourn at the burning of her birth-place
Item Information
- Title:
- Columbia lays aside her laurels to mourn at the burning of her birth-place
- Description:
-
Thomas Nast's dramatic and symbolic representation of the devastation caused by the Great Fire was published in Harper's Weekly, three weeks after the event. Columbia, the historical female personification of the United States, is depicted in despair at the destruction of the city. A hideous Gorgon sweeps fire across the sky, as Columbia shields her eyes from the monstrous flames that consume Boston - the proverbial birth place of liberty. Casting aside her victory laurels representing recent political events, the goddess is overcome by grief to see the "Athens of America" succumb to the inferno.
- Creator:
- Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902
- Artist:
- Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902
- Name on Item:
-
Th. Nast.
- Date:
-
1872
- Format:
-
Prints
- Location:
-
Boston Public Library
Norman B. Leventhal Map Center - Collection (local):
-
Norman B. Leventhal Map Center Collection
- Subjects:
-
Great Fire, Boston, Mass., 1872
1870–1880
- Places:
-
Suffolk (county)Boston
- Extent:
- 1 print : wood engraving ; 41 x 28 cm.
- Terms of Use:
-
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
- Publisher:
-
New York :
Harper & Bros.
- Language:
-
English
- Notes:
-
Title from item.
Published in Harper's Weekly, 1872 November 30, p. 941.
Publication may be restricted. For information see "Ben and Beatrice Goldstein Foundation Collection"
- Notes (exhibitions):
-
Exhibited: "Boston in the Gilded Age: Mapping Public Places" organized by the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library, 2012-2013.
- Identifier:
-
06_01_010406
- Call #:
-
AP2 .H32 v. 16 no. 831
- Barcode:
-
39999065671495
- LCCN:
-
2010644058
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